Michigan Mayor Amer Ghalib says the Republican Party is 'the right choice' despite some disagreements.
The mayor of the only US city with an all-Muslim government has endorsed former President Donald Trump for the November presidential election.
Amer Ghalib, who leads the city of Hamtramck in the crucial state of Michigan, said Sunday that he believes the Republican candidate is “the right choice” despite their disagreements on some issues.
“President Trump and I may not agree on everything, but I know he is a man of principle,” Ghalib said in a Facebook post.
“Even though everything seems to be going well, I may or may not win the election and become the 47th President of the United States, but I believe that this is the right choice for this critical moment. I will not regret my decision, whatever the outcome, and I am ready to face the consequences.”
“Now let the Caravan begin its journey,” Ghalib added. “This is just the starting point.”
Hamtramck, which has a population of about 28,000 people, made headlines in 2021 when it became the first U.S. city to elect an all-Muslim city council and a Muslim mayor.
Ghalib, who immigrated to the United States from Yemen when he was 17, made the announcement less than a week after meeting with Trump before a town hall in Flint, Michigan.
Ghalib told The Detroit News last week that the two had discussed the concerns of Arab and Muslim Americans and that Trump had asked for their support.
Michigan is one of seven key states expected to decide the outcome of the November contest between Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Opinion polls suggest a tight race between Trump and Harris both nationally and in battleground states like Michigan.
In the most recent average of polls compiled by The New York Times, Harris leads Trump in Michigan by 50 percent to 47 percent.
Trump won Michigan in the 2016 election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, becoming the first Republican to prevail in the state since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
President Joe Biden returned control of the state to Democrats in 2020, defeating Trump by a margin of about 150,000 votes.
Anger among American Muslims over the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza has become a concern for Democrats as they face tight races in battleground states.
In a poll released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in August, only 12 percent of Muslim voters in Michigan expressed support for Harris, while 18 percent backed Trump and 40 percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party.
